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Dec 4, 2012

Of Cold Spells and Hypertension

It's that time of the year again when I am having watery eyes, runny or clogged nose, a lot of sniffing, itchy eyes and nose. I hate it when my nose is runny as it gets red and irritated with constant wiping of tissue paper. On the other side, I hate it even more when my nostrils are clogged and I had to breathe through my mouth, which causes another problem...dry throat and if I'm really running out of luck (not that I believe in luck but for lack of terms, I'd call it that), I would eventually have sore throat or worse, inflamed tonsils. On top of that, sometimes, I would feel like I'm running a fever as well. Eventually, you'll find me turning off the air conditioning unit to ward of the chill creeping over me.

I am sure you've felt like that at some point. They don't call it the common colds for nothing. But for someone who's been prone to the colds virus, like me for instance, it can really be annoying. I don't just get it during the cold months. House dust triggers it for me. At least, I have identified one of the culprits.

Prior to having hypertension, when I have cold spells that don't go away in three days, you'd find me at the company dispensary asking for antihistamines and other medicines for colds and even cough and sore throat...the whole gamut of medication. And if it persists longer than a week, I could foresee the doctor writing prescriptions for antibiotics.

However, for hypertensive people, you can't just go pill popping anytime. Having this condition taught me to pay more attention to possible side effects of drugs, even the non-prescription ones. Some antihistamines for instance cause blood vessel constriction which can further elevate blood pressure.

When I started taking medication for hypertension, I am now more wary of the other medicines I take. I always check with the doctor if it's alright to take this and that when I am also taking Losartan for high blood pressure maintenance. Antihistamines and decongestants were practically my best friends before. But now, I have parted ways with them. I've resorted to more natural means such as water and lots of sleep. So far, I have coped with cold spells. In fact, the only other medicine I take aside from Losartan is mefenamic acid, for that time of the month when I am literally writhing in extreme pain. As much as I can, I try do do away with medicines. After all, the body is equipped with a healing mechanism. So whenever I can manage it, I try to wait for the body's natural healing to kick in before I interfere.

As a rule of thumb, and they keep reminding us of this: To never self-prescribe drugs, even the over the counter (OTC) ones. Always seek doctor's advise, particularly when you have other underlying conditions.

55 comments:

I'm not fond of taking med. I always wait for my body to take its natural course of healing as long as I can. Even with my daughter, I don't administer paracetamol for fever lower than 38 degrees.

I'm seeing my eldest daughterto you. Once she got some colds, I expect that she's down at least a day and the colds do not leave her right away. It lingers for weeks :( I think I have to see her pedia if antihistamine is better than mucolytic.

I hope you get well soon. There are so many people who are sick nowadays. Probably because of the weather.

I hear you, sis! I have all sorts of allergies when we hit the cold months (also rainy season pala with all the mold growing eww). I don't take anithistamines, but when I get a really bad rash (skin asthma), I am forced to take them. Hay naku, I used to like drinking dimetapp for colds, cuz it knocks me out (with its yummy grape flavor, san ka pa? keep it away from kids cuz it doesn't taste like medicine at all), then sometime around 2005 it was actually banned because of phenylpropanolamine (PPL).(this must be the component which gives me bad dreams whenever I take in cold or antiflu meds). It is back reformulated, but I am not sure if they totally removed the PPL. My two older daughter's pediatrician is ancient (she must be in her late 80s now) and she never ever prescribed dimetapp to my kids even when it was popular to prescribe it (Hihi, sometimes, sasabihin nya, sipon lang yan, plenty of water lang yan, then she suddenly puts her hand over my kids' head then pray over siya !). Nung na-ban ang dimetapp, tuwang tuwa ang lola because she was right all along.

I used to be prone to respiratory illness when I was a kid up until I had my first born. Like you, dust from books, clothes or just by cleaning would trigger it. Perhaps eating lots of veggies,fruits and enough rest helped a lot that even though I work on graveyard shifts I rarely get ill.

Hope you get well soon. Once you are well try a very early morning walk or jog at the park especially once you are back in the province. During that time, the streets are not crowded and there is less pollution. I have been doing it since July and proved to be very helpful even if you have a cold.

Yup I remember that issue on PPL...since then I've been scrutinizing med labels for that alone hehehe. Ah yes, the wisdom that comes with age...in truth, she's right about plenty of water and enough rest.

Thanks Sarah! I'm much better but I have sneezing spells hehehe...I agree that sweating it out helps...must have something to do with cardio exercise and the respiratory system. Unfortunately, I can't jog in the province....to many dogs in the streets even sa bukid lol!

When I was much much younger, my cold spells are terrible. I always feel feverish and my body is always begging me to lie in bed hehe. I think I have better resistance now. After all, you can't just easily skip work because you have a nasty cold. I think mucolytic works to expel mucus...antihistamine is to control the allergic reactions, something like that. It depends, I guess on what the particular person needs.

I have it the other way around. Before, I used to do away with meds but 2 years ago, my allergic rhinitis got worse and it won't let me sleep. I was coughing and sneezing, it was a disaster. Haay, "panahon ng suddenly"...

Hey! I'm like this too! No matter what I do I always ALWAYS get the whole shebang ( sore throat, colds, cough, fever) and it goes on for weeks. I used to be sickly but my uncle forced me to learn how to swim and since then it improved. It went back again a few years ago and improved when I moved out of my bat cave apartment. Now though, I've run out of ideas. My mom said to eat more fruits..but you're eating A LOT of fruits and you still get sick. T-T what do we do *huhu*

hmn Are you familiar with healthy options? They use all natural ingredients/ Whenever I get sick I take a "Wellness booster". It's supposed to help your body fight off the virus. I'm trying to lessen the drugs I take in too. :(

The whole shebang...you got that right. Well, like I said, having a maintenance drug for my BP is all I would tolerate for now. I've shunned other meds, as much as I can of course. I'm no masochist hehehe. This may sound weird, but sometimes, I would talk to my antibodies and prod them to do their stuff lol!

Seriously, Vitamin C is good. I think a have a bottle of that and sometimes I remember to take a tablet hehehe. I've read kasi that it also helps with the BP.

I guess having colds as often as I do, it's become part of my life already. What I can only do is lessen the nasty impact. But there are days, I swear I just want to go under the blanket and sleep until I've recovered.

Is that allergic rhinitis? According to natural doctors, you need to make you lungs stronger. You must take a bath early in the morning and expose you back in morning sunlight 30 minutes a day. Please be noted that you should not take a bath after exposure because it can lead to accumulation of water in your lungs.

Same like you, I'm sniffing here and there at night even have a runny nose. But in the morning when I wake up, it's gone. I don't really self-diagnose but I do take vitamins right away when I feel like I'm going to catch the virus. It's that time of the year again!

Is it bath or pwede ang shower? Kasi we don't have a bath tub hehehe...but if it's early in the morning thing, I wake up at 5am and rush off with morning rituals so I got that one. Soaking in the sun, that one kulang. I'll try that. Thanks Doc Allan hehehe.

I love that pedia. You know how we used to use "bigkis" on the babies? (oops OT. sorry, aileen). She actually asked me to use it para my baby will not have kabag. It worked naman. Our new pedias frown on the bigkis.

When hubby and I feel that we're about to get colds, it's automatic neozep, alaxan and a generic amoxicillin and for sure, the colds don't prosper into full blown colds. I read it in an article in The Philippine Star a long time ago.

Just like my dad. Haha. My aunt scolds my dad a lot because he prescribes himself with different decongestants and antihistamines when he is hypertensive, and clearly not a doctor. But I can't blame him. He sneezes almost non-stop. Haha. I hope you get better though. Common colds is annoying.

I can relate to this. I was in the office battling colds. I decided to go to the office clinic to get some decongestant; was asked a few standard questions, one of which is if I have hypertension. When I said yes, I wasn't given anything. It is not good for hypertension daw.

I understand how you are feeling these days because my mom who is hypertensive also shares her woes to us. Being cautious with all the drugs you take is certainly necessary. And I hope the colds flee away from you soon.

The quote I posted in one of my old entries by Og Mandino came from the net while I was specifically browsing for happiness quotations. :)

We've been hit by the vomiting bug. Me, my husband and 2 kids suffered because of this. My husband's niece started to sneeze, I'm afraid that another bug. So I'm gearing up with lots of Vitamin C hehehe!

I agree with you Aileen, it;s really very uncomfortable having colds and sneezing all the time especially if you're working. But lucky me! Do you know that since I came to work at Cambodia, I never had experience getting colds or cough? I also don't know why. Is it because of the weather here? But it's almost the same in the Phil except that there is no typhoon here. Maybe because I eat a lot of fruits here also. Whatever the reason is, it's a good thing for me. :) Get well Sis!

The weather these days are so unpredictable. I've been coughing recently and hope it goes away completely. I don't want my little ones to catch it, too. I really hope I get my proflavanol C so I could boost my immune system. Have you tried taking USANA for hypertension?

Prevention is always better than cure. To avoid getting common colds, which we know is viral, let's always bring a hanky handy. When someone sneezes in the mall or when u r on commute, don't let the virus get to you. And yes, Vit C helps!

Are you fully recovered now? I've just been bitten by a bug, hopefully not the flu though. It started with colds, and then I felt my voice getting raspier by the minute. Then I just couldn't stay awake. No matter how much sleep I got since yesterday, I still felt awful. Run a little fever earlier but looks like BioFlu helped control it. Still feeling lousy though. Oh please don't let me be sick!

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Hi! Thank you so much for taking the time to visit this site. This is basically a blog about my personal journey towards better health as I try to hold hypertension at bay, or possibly reverse the condition. Towards the end of 2011, I started taking health and wellness more seriously, something I should have done decades ago. It's never too late to start and I know I have a long way to go. I hope you'll journey with me...better yet, run with me. It's one of the things I enjoy doing at the moment and you'll see a lot of my running escapades here.

To good health!!!

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I'm a full time employee somewhere in Manila. I'm an Engineer by profession and a blogger/writer on the side. Most of my free time, you'll see me surfing the net, huddled over a book,tinkering with my blogs, or joining running events.